Kindle By Darktayle
by Blackstory
Summary: -RESUBMISSION- When Naruto loses everything, he rips apart the world with his grief. But he ripped more than just the world--the vaccuum in reality's fabric lands him years back, in a strange land, when he isn't even born...and his father is alive.


Title: Kindle

Category: Anime/Manga » Naruto

Author: Darktayle

Language: English, Rating: Rated: T

Genre: Adventure/General

Published: 01-14-08, Updated: 08-07-09

Chapters: 7, Words: 17,039

Chapter 1: Vacuum

Since I seem to have an obsession with writing timetravel stories (three so far, all Naruto) as well as an obsession with writing a large number of fics (32), I decided to write this, despite my workload (school, homework, parents, siblings, other fics, reading fics, computer games, reading)

Things had gone wrong. So, so wrong. It had been quick, violent, and extremely unexpected. On the 23rd of November, a large alliance of ninja villages had attacked Konoha. This included Oto, predictably, as well as Iwa, since Orochimaru had somehow managed to leak that their eternal nemesis: Namikaze Minato, was Naruto's father. of course, after that came their simple (but rather large) grudge on Konoha. Losing 2000 of your ninja on the frontline tended to do that. This became more evident, as Naruto and his group had developed a complete and utter hate for the alliance of Oto, Iwa, Kusa, and Ame. Suna hadn't had enough time to send reinforcements; and since Akatsuki apparently couldn't use Shukaku without killing Gaara first...the former Ichibi host had been killed.

Akatsuki had realsied the complications of a Jinchuuriki that the village actually liked, and had decided to send five of their members. Naturally, this had taken a large chunk out of Suna's forces, as well as killing Gaara in a rather unpleasant manner. The actual identities of said Akatsuki were unknown, but due to the fact many Suna nins died without injury, it was supposed that Itachi had come out to play.

But whatever the situation, Konoha had lost badly. Now, about 42 Konoha villagers remained, and they'd be sent to Suna for refuge. As for nins, Naruto had Kyuubified up to three tails and held the forces back from his friends...most of them. Since Shikamaru, Neji, Hinata, Sakura, Ino...let's just say that out of Naruto's good acquaintances (Minus Sasuke) only the Konohamaru Corps, Kiba, Shino, and Tenten were still alive. That was seven people left that carried the Will of Fire, a fire that was being smothered under hopelessness.

The sad thing was, the attack had happened a while after Naruto turned fifteen. In reality, he'd been able to take on a squad of Anbu and live since the age of five. Kyuubi had simply refused to let his host be weak, and so conveniently turned him into a hanyou. Naruto had found out about the Kyuubi then, yelled at him for a while, then pestered him to tell him about how fox abilities worked. With the inpenetrable fox illusions, Naruto had been hiding his species-oriented status for around eleven years. Then after the attack, when all that seven people had was eachother, all secrets had been laid bare. There was nothing that the group didn't know about each other, and they could even predict what others would think in most situations. And through this, there was no doubt that Naruto was now the strongest, and the one with the most leadership abilities.

The irony. Naruto becomes Hokage of Konoha, but for only six people. Those six people, however, had deemed him worthy, however arrogantly. Those people he would die for without question, and it mutual for them all. They were the ones that had used a significantly weaker version (due to the lack of proper knowledge) of the permenant Hokage tattoo that showed their consent as Konoha's 'council'. It was supposed to be incapable of removal, but the fact that the jutsu for it had probably been done slightly wrong suggested that it might be possible to get rid of.

It had become custom for Naruto to hold up illusions over the entire group, since fox illusions took up a disturbingly small amount of chakra. Over the year that followed, Naruto had been forced to adapt his body to handling all nine tails of Kyuubi's chakra, essentially stealing Kyuubi's body for a while in the process. It had been exactly a year after the Dousing, as Konoha's fall was named, taht Naruto had pulled out all nine tails. Unfortunately, he'd not known that doing so would promptly force him to take the form of a large 20ft blood red fox. Kyuubi hadn't taught him how to control his size, becuase as a one-tail apaprently you remained at normal fox size all the time. The large fox had alerted them to their enemies.

Another problem was that five of Kyuubi's tails promptly implanted themselves in Naruto and didn't let go, forcing him to become a full-demon Rokubi fox. Still, foxes were shapeshifters, so he still kept his human form. Unfortuantely, sortly after the absorbing, Naruto experienced the regular backlash that using Kyuubi's chakra created on his once human body, and he woke up to find the last of Konoha's nins dead, and Oto nins seemingly irritated over the fact that he regenerated whenever they tried to kill him.

Naruto didn't think when he saw his friends bodies. He exploded with rage. He and Kyuubi became one for a brief, precious moment, and the entire world was burned away. That was all Naruto knew, before sadly embracing what had happened and what was to come, and letting go, not paying attention to the black hole that had abruptly formed upon the planet's destruction.

"Who knew our power combined could do that?" Kyuubi murmured sleepily, beginning to follow his host's soul. "I should have gotten a Jinchuuriki a long time ago. Then this would have never happened..."

Apparently Fate had a sense of humour, and somehow made the black hole end up somewhere unexpected.

Namikaze Minato had seen a lot of things. Despite that, he still got surprised. Usually it passed in a second or so to make way for analysing. However, the sight of a boy looking around fifteen years of age (Naruto's growth had always stunted) bleeding all over Training Field 7 set a new record for an entire minute of shock and gaping. Kakashi's eyebrow was twitching. He looked very freaked out, but there were so many things the young Hatake could have been thinking that we won't even go there.

"What the hell." Minato concluded, before calling on the Anbu that had the annoying task of following him around. "We need medics, as you can see. Hurry up about it!" The Anbu shot off as Kakashi continued twitching and Minato dragged him over to the boy.

"That's weird." Kakashi said finally. "I can't see any wounds, but he's bleeding...a lot."

"Maybe it's internal." Minato suggested, trying to keep his voice calm. When in the hell did half-dead kids show up? Wasn't the war over? And why did he feel oddly...protective of the child? Medics, due to their secretive abilities, arrived on the scene with astonishing speed. "Do your best to heal him, and if all goes well we'll question him when he wakes up." Minato commanded, watching the medics obey, taking the boy onto a sling.

"What's his status?" Minato asked the reporting nurse. She looked grim.

"By all means, his recovery rate is inhuman, Hokage-sama. He came in with seven broken ribs, a compount fracture in his upper leg, which had pierced his femoral artery. That alone should ahve amde him dead by now, but he also has a punctured left lung, decrompression sickness (nitrogen bubbles in your tissue, can kill if untreated. Obtained mainly by scuba diving, but I figured a black hole could do all sorts of things), and a ruptured liver." Minato's face flashes briefly with alarm, which quickly became a grimace.

"So he's dead, then?"

"That's the odd thing. He has chakra with an odd feel to it, and it seems to be massing in the areas of injury...and regenerating them. Many of the injuries have already healed, and the compound bone piece has dissolved and regrown in the correct place. It's completely baffling. Also, when we try to get a blood sample, the blood dissolves into a unidentified red mist. We suspect it is some kind of seal to protect his identity. He carries a backpack, but the only accessable thing inside is a universal bingo book. The other things have some variation of seal on them that burns our hands with increasing heat until we remove them."

Minato blinked, then frowned. "Can I see hi-"

"Haria-san! The boy's regenerating has sped up by approximately 210 percent!" A voice called. Minato twitched violently as the nurse ran back in. Meanwhile, something very twitchy fell off the ceilling.

"Oh, hi Ero-sennin!" Minato greeted cheerfully, before slipping back into Hokage-mode. "I assume you heard that? Me and Kakashi found him in the training ground." Jiraiya had also become serious.

"Yeah. Seems weird, eh? You gonna go in?"

"I think so." Minato said firmly, walking towards the door.

"I think I'll follow you." Jiraiya decided, doing just that. The two walked curiously over to the bed in which the boy was lying with a pained expression. Both elites extended their chakra to see what the medics meant by 'odd feel', and ended up accidentally flaring chakra in instinctive reaction to the almost...poisonous feeling chakra. Instantly, the boy's eyes snapped open, fully alert, and he sprang to his feet, crouching on the matress with what looked like...extremely long, semi-transparent, red, and sharp claws on his fingertips, pointed together to form a sort of red spike. According to his clouded, misty-blue eyes, he couldn't see very well and was rather disoriented.

"Hunh? No...killer intent...false... alarm... everyone..." The blonde muttered, before falling back and collapsing. The medics were swarming, gasping and monitering.

"Who are you?" Minato asked sharply.

"First...where...am I?" The child slurred half-coherently, seemingly part delerious.

"Konoha hospital." One of the medics informed.

"Kon...o...ha?" The boy blinked confusedly. "I thought everyone knew about the Dousing? It...was one...biggest...events...in shinobi world...ghrrr...sense no hostility...bingo book...in bag...my page in it..." With that, the boy promptly passed out. Perplexed, Minato and Jiraiya looked at eachother, before grabbing the bingo book from the backpack ('Orange!' Minato thought happily).

"What the hell? This date is over ten years into the future." Jiraiya commented. Minato absently noticed that the medics had disappeared by means of their secretive, mystical powers.

"Just open it." Minato grumbled. Grumbling himself, Jiraiya did so, and on the first page found a sticky note with page numbers on it. Next to the page numbers were scrawled Kanji characters, like Hebi-teme (Orochimaru), Teme (Sasuke), Weasel-Baka (itachi), Four-eyes (Kabuto), Sushi-face(Kisame), Yingyang (Zetsu), and various others. There was, however, one that said: Me. Quickly turning to its page, Jiraiya noticed Orochimaru's page next to it, and scrawled writing.

Why does Hebi-Teme's page have to be next to mine?

Mianto sniggered, before noticing something. "Hey, when did the bastard become an SS-class Nukenin?"

"Probably another typing error."

Minato shrugged. "Possibly. I'll read the kid's page out loud so we aren't peering over the same book." Jiraiya nodded in acceptance. Minato cleared his throat, noticing that there was no description.

"Name: Unknown. Many aliases. Spies have considered the fact that Naruto of Konoha disappeared when the subject appeared, and strongly assume this is the correct identity due to other factors. Check Uzumaki N. Naruto for more information.

Status: SS rank

Estimated age: Unknown, thought to be 15-22

Discription: often seen in a cloak closely alike that of the Yondaime Hokage of Konoha, before the Dousing.

What's this Dousing we keep on hearing about? And what's with the cloak?" Minato commented.

"Dunno. Carry on." Jiraiya ordered.

Known to wear a black mask upon the lower face. If not present, a strange blurriness appears where it once was, identified as an unbreakable Genjutsu. Otherwise, a Fox Anbu mask. Blond hair. Eye colour varies. When unthreatened, vibrant blue. Occasionally violet. Hunters are urgently advised to run if eyes turn blood red and slitted.

General: Elimination of three minor villages with the Shichi no Hanto (Seven Rebels). Probable leader of Shichi no Hanto. Has been addressed as 'Boss', 'Idiot', 'Dobe', 'Hokage', and 'Hokage-sama'. The last two suggest that the Shichi no Hanto are the rumoured survivors of the Dousing. Seems to object to honourifics. Theory suggests he is bipolar or has extremely violent mood swings. Has astounding regeneration abilities. It is assumed that his subordiantes are under a variation of his Genjutsu, and so no information is available about them. Subject is said to be an even greater seal master than the Yondaime Hokage, and is known for having created a seal capable of eternally binding a high-level demon (Bijuu level, 9-tails the limit) into the body of a newborn while destroying the demon's soul, allowing the child to absorb the demon's power without the demon itself there,

Alias/es: Ni no Kiiroi no Hirameki,

Jiraiya and Minato rose an eyebrow, though the latter continued reading after a pause. "Second Yellow Flash?"

Chi no Kitsune (Blood fox), Kari no Shikyou (Death hunter), Nami no Chi (Blood wave).

Signature jutsu: Kage Bunshin-

"Where'd he learn a Kinjutsu?" Jiraiya commented, suddenly noticing that Minato was twitching, staring at the paper. "What?"

"...Rasengan (perfected) and Hiraishin." Minato finished. "I only completed Hiraishin a year ago, and Rasengan two! Who the hell is this kid?"

Next chapter: The sensei and pupil go investigating, before Naruto decides to kick them out of his stuff.

I need at least one review to continue.

Chapter 2: Resolve

Naruto woke, but did not open his eyes. He paused to sniff the air with demon senses, extend a small ripple of chakra to radar for nearby presences. It...smells like Konoha. I didn't know there was a Konoha in death. It must be rather overcrowded. Do the dead get injured? I wouldn't say so, but then, why am I in a hospital? He smelled again, and frowned slightly. It smells different, somehow. I can't explain it. I wonder if you can still use jutsu when dead? Only one way to find out. In a single swift motion, Naruto brought his hands up and made four ahndseals, performing the others in his mind. Adding a burst of chakra, he was gone in a flash of yellow, startling the hell out of one Namikaze Minato, who the boy hadn't bothered to chakra-evaluate.

Naruto ended up on two extremely tall trees, allowing him to look into the village. He frowned. There were only four faces upon the stone monument. He'd assumed that the faces would appear as the Hokages died. If that was so, Baa-chan should be up there, and since he'd been appointed the leader of Konoha's remains, maybe his as well. His face hardened. Or could jinchuuriki not become village leaders unless they were thought to be its puppet? Suddenly-

"Holy fucking crap!" Kyuubi exclaimed in his mind. Ever wonder where Naruto had picked up swearing from such a young age? "Kit, we're not dead! What the shitting hell are we doing in Konoha?!"

"Not dead? How come? I don't think either of us was ready for accidentally turning ten tails of chakra into an explosion."

"According to ancient demonology, black holes are formed when planets or stars 'die'. These black hole thingies suck anything around into them, even light, and there's no escape. I'm assuming we were pulled into our black hole...and since it was the black hole of our planet, it landed us in some parallell dimension of our world or something. No one's ever returned to say what exists inside a black hole before, so i really don't know."

"Brilliant. So, when are we, I wonder? It's definately before my thirteenth birthday. Baa-chan was Hokage by then." Naruto sighed. "I don't care."

"But if we're far back enough, we can stop things from happening!"

"I'm tired, Kyuubi. One lifetime is enough for me. It's far back enough at least that the people I knew don't exist anymore. And... It'd be hard to look at them, when I've seen them die." The full weight of everything dropped upon him. He remembered those accursed enemy shinobi slipping past him, attacking, killing!

Weak!

Bodies flung everywhere, the buildings in ruin. The once vibrant village aflame and dying, drowning in blood. The eyes of friends wide, glazed...pain-filled and lifeless.

I couldn't protect them!

The last seven, those he'd vowed to defend, battled for their lives while he lay asleep. Those cold, long-dead bodies that greeted him when he woke...

I failed them! I failed everyone...

Caught in his moment of anguish, tears streamed. Silent tears that shimmered golden-red in the sunset. That was how Minato found him- a river of tears streaming down his oddly-whiskered cheeks. There was no expression, making them look fake, aside from the faintest brush of mournfulness. But looking into those blue eyes that seemed vibrant on the surface, looking deeper...Minato shuddered at how dull, empty, and utterly haunted they were beyond the surface. Not sure what to do (The child had apparently been assumed to have belonged to Konoha, so he may not be a threat) Minato just sat on his branch and observed. He had been the only one present- and the only one capable of tracking someone who'd used Hiraishin. The tears thinned and dissipated with a tired sigh.

"...And what is there ahead...but death? I refuse to watch the Dousing again." he muttered, Minato channeling chakra to his ears to listen. The boy- assumed to be Naruto from the bingo book- seemed to be listening intently. He gave a low chuckle. He simply radiated uncertainty. "Whether or not there is another me running around in there, I am a pariah to the end. There will always be one person, as you know well. I've learned not to trust without reason, you taught me as much."

Who is he talking to?

More listening. "I should have damn died after that. Is that too much to ask? Why should I have to go through it again?" he said it harshly. His eyes suddenly flickered with outrage. "Don't you dare call me selfish, Kitsune!"

A strange feeling of presence was flickering. It felt odd, and very dangerous, yet somehow not there. It was like the presence of a dead person, and it was defiantely around Naruto's. Maybe he could communicate with it? He could feel the presence (slightly accompanied by chakra) fluctuating in odd ways, and he suddenly recognised it as a form of Anbu communication. Aura reading! They would manipulate their chakra in ways that could be read as messages. This one seemed rather different, but he could still basically decipher it. Just.

"What happ-ned to --- Naruto I knew? He'd die fo- his -riends, -ven if th-y were di--erent." The boy seemed silent for a while.

"I-" His voice broke. "I'm tempted to say he died with my group." "But it i-n't co--letely tru-, eh?" There was no reply. "Even if y-u were only p-ete-ding to be an idiot, y-ur Nindo w-s true, -nd stil- is. You kn-w it. You said you'd ne-er give up. You-d always protect. Now I se- you -eady to -et them die again -ecause you-re unwi-ling to give up -our past -ith th-m?"

The boy sighed again. "Right as always, Fox. When did you start acting like my concience again? I can't damn remember. Okay then, let's go see what's become of my life before some villagers find and decide to kill us."

"And you can-t h-ndle villagers."

"The council would see defending myself as a legitimate reason to declare me a criminal and have me excecuted. They've been doing that since the dawn of time- I swear. We might have to send one of your buddies to scare some of them out the council. Particuarly Kajo, I never knew anything was capable of more killer intent than you."

"Hm- oh crap! Watch out kit, someone sneaked up on us while we were talking!"

Naruto jumped to his feet. Minato tensed. "Someone sneaked up on us? Even with all the on-the-run stuff? Has to be some crapping good elite. Might have to pull out that prison seal or make a new one. Oi, random elite! You can come out!" Unsure, Minato began analysing the opponent and stayed where he was. "O-kay then." The boy concluded, and suddenly Minato was nearly pushed off his branch as he felt a scarily large force of chakra branching out and invading everything- now trying to enter his coils. He pushed it away viciously with his own chakra, but recoiled as he felt that his chakra burned slightly upon contact with the other. Nevertheless, he pushed it out, and jumped to awareness. He'd obviously been discovered. Minato grabbed a kunai, threw it at the ground near the boy, and Hiraishin'ed to it. Naturally, the boy was stunned, but Minato got the feeling that he wasn't surprised about the jutsu, just that he and it were there.

"Holy shitting hell!" He gasped, then made unknown handsigns. Minato felt that strange presence being sucked away- then formulated into a small two-tailed fox of a blood red colour. Naruto glared accusatively at it. "You didn't tell me we'd gone this far back!"

"I didn't know, I'm not like some sort of time detector you know!" The fox replied indignantly, startling Minato. "Right now we need to figure out how to get your whiskerless, aged clone-" At this, Minato zoned out a little, noticing how severely alike he looked to the boy. The same coloured hair, same facial features, same posture, same general body structure. Even the same, startling blue eyes. He simply looke dlike a younger version of himself with six scars on his cheeks. He missed what the fox said next, but got the general idea that they were disconcerted about fighting him.

"You could simply tell me who you are and what your buisness is in Konoha." Minato suggested, eyebrow raised. The fox and Naruto looked at each other.

"Well, that works." Naruto decided. Then he picked the fox up by a tail and punched it. "You can crap off now, fox!" The body disappeared like a kage bunshin. "Don't mind him, he's lazy and hates answering questions." Naruto explained to him cheerfully, as if he weren't facing a potential enemy. A flash of yellow, and the boy was a few meters away. He jumped.

"How do you know Hiraishin? And without the kunai?" He asked suspiciously.

"Part of the complicated stuff. Since I am a ninja, and do need a place to work... What year is it?" Taht was an odd question.

"...1663."

"Ah..." He trailed off for a moment, before getting back on track. He looked Minato in the eye seriously. "I am Naruto, and due to odd circumstances which are rather painful and personal I have ended up here. I would like to instate as a Konoha ninja. If you must, you can have one of those Yamanakas walk around my mind as long as they promise to only ever say what is nescessary. Until then, I will allow myself to be restrained in any way bodily possible. However, I seem to have too much chakra to have it restrained, and my chakra can be rather toxic sometimes. The Yamanaka will understand. Your answer?" Minato blinked for a while, before generating a reluctant response.

"...Acceptable. I believe I am sufficient enough escort. Meanwhile, maybe you can explain how it is possible for you to Hiraishin without the seal?" Mianto asked, setting off from the tree, boy in pursuit.

"I got a regular sized version of the seal, used some nifty tricks to make it indestructable, sent it to the core of the planet with a chakra string attatched, used a technique that makes it incapable of being touched and that will make it fall through everything until it reaches earth, then used a variation of Kage Bunshin on it to send copies all over the planet. Since I wrote the seal with my blood, only I or someone to which I've given a drop of blood to can do it."

"...Ah. I wasn't aware anyone had that much chakra."

"Nothing is impossible in the shinobi world. Expect everything." naruto gave a bitter chuckle. "Strange, isn't it? You understand why the rules are important, but can never always instate them. You just can't keep on running from something, because eventually you'll get caught. No matter what tricks you employ." Minato glanced at the boy oddly. He found a strange sense of complete truth in the blond's voice, and also found himself agreeing with him. He somehow couldn't believe the suspicion that no stranger should be this friendly upon capture...no matter how likely it seemed.

Minato sighed.

...Maybe I can blackmail Kakashi into doing my paperwork again?

Chapter 3: Reminiscence

Upon arriving at the Hokage office, the oddly mature child sat patiently on the chair provided as the Yondaime summoned an Anbu. He was used to controlling appearences and putting on masks, but now, completely unmasked, Naruto was panicking inside.

"Gah! This is my goddamn father here! Kyuu, this is completely insane! If I ever find that black hole, I'll murder it!"

"You can't murder a black hole, kit. Besides, haven't you always wanted a family?"

"...Friends."

"Who are either dead, not born yet, or don't know you. And you know as well as I do that while friends can compare, they'll never be what family is. You were their leader, you had to raise their confidence, saying it'd be fine even if you didn't believe it. You need a family, kit. Everyone needs someone, even me."

Naruto chose to ignore him, because he had absolutely no comeback.

"Hokage-sama." The respectful voice brought Naruto out of his thoughts, and he tore his gaze to its source. An amused glance fell upon his face, it was Inoichi. Ino's father.

"Good evening, Inoichi-san. I have here an outsider who wishes to join Konoha, but it is unknown whether or not he will be a threat to us. He has requested that a Yamanaka inspect his memories, and everything unnescesary will remain unsaid." Mianto said formally. Inoichi bowed.

"As you wish." He replied, and turned to Naruto. "Now... Shintenshin no Jutsu!" Inoichi's body slumped, and he arrived the cavern that reperesented the mind's command center.

"Good evening, Yamanaka-san." said a voice behind him, making him jump. He turned, and to his amazement saw the figure of the boy standing there.

"How? It's impossible for a person to be concious within their own mind."

"Not impossible for what I am. We need a way into our minds, it is essential for us. Otherwise we cannot confront our inner demons." came the reply.

"What do you mean?"

"All will be revealed, Yamanaka-san. As you know, nothing in the mind is capable of lies. Everything is laid bare here, and that is why I have come. There are some things...which you would not want to see." His voice became so grim and gravelly at the end that Inoichi simply didn't want to know. "Come, Yamanaka-san. There is someone who I'd like for you to meet." And he began walking away. Puzzled, Inoichi finally decided to follow him. Maybe the guy was bipolar? Though there was something that disturbed him. He frowned.

"If you don't mind me asking, why is your mind a dark sewer?" At this comment, Naruto shot him a dark look.

"If you are assuming what I think you, then you are correct. The visual state of a person's mind represents their mental state. This sewer is dark, isolated, and beginning to break. The same can be said for myself. I can see a considerably large amount of damage here that was not here before, but it is only to be expected. Yesterday, the last of the people I cared about joined the dead. The person who I am leading you to is the sole reason I carry on, and chose to yield against Yondaime." Inoichi's face took on a look of horror. Just what had this man- no- child been through for his mind to be in such a state? He froze as a deep, rumbling voice rang out.

"Urging your own father to kill you, kit? That's a little harsh."

Inoichi stared at Naruto. The blonde didn't seem surprised at all, he simply carried on walking. Choosing to trust him, he continued to follow.

"You've seen every ounce of who and what I am, Fox. More than anyone, you should understand." Naruto replied. Inoichi frowned. Fox?

A rumbling chuckle reverberated through the passages, it was impossible to tell where it came from. "Yeah, I've seen. And let me tell you, Yamanaka." Inoichi started as he was adressed. "It ain't pretty." The voice was echoing and very, very ominous.

"Shut up." Naruto replied. He turned his eyes to Inoichi, making him shiver at how blank they'd suddenly become. Glassy and fake-looking, not displaying anything. Anything, except for that deeply haunted look that never left, and shook Inoichi to his core. "We're here,a s you can probably tell from the voice." The eyes changed course, to Inoichi's relief. He tensed as he was led into an area that radiated power, a red glow ghosting through the halls. He suddenly noticed that Naruto had swiftly swerved into a room that Inoichi had accidentaly walked past, and he scrambled inside it, trying to ignore the pure oppression that the place gave off.

Once in, he froze. There was a positively huge creature, giving off an aura that stung his conciousness. It was behind vast golden bars, and held together with a piece of paper with the word 'seal' on it. And Naruto appeared to be sitting on its shoulder.

"Oi, fox. Drop the intimidation, you don't have to be that big." Naruto commanded. Grumbling slightly, the beast shrunk to the size of a wolf, Naruto still sitting on it. "Meet Kyuubi no Kitsune, the nine-tailed demon fox. Most powerful Bijuu, lord of all animals, and the KajiKami (Fire god). He was sealed into me on the day of my birth. I'm his Jinchuuriki, as they are called."

Inoichi gaped.

Inoichi had proceeded to imitate a fish for the next ten minutes, so Naruto had gotten bored and dragged him off, saying goodbye to Kyuubi.

"I understand meeting the most powerful Bijuu in friendly terms may be a little shocking, but Minato-san will begin to become wary if you take too long. I'll take you to the key memories, meanwhile I'll answer any of your questions." Naruto sighed under his black mask, so reminiscent of Kakashi's.

"What is your relation with Kyuubi?" came the prompt question.

"At first, Kyuubi was the biggest prick in the history of pricks. He hated humans, having been brought up to believe that they were heartless monsters that would destroy them, even the children, without hesitation."

Inoichi looked startled. Naruto shot him a sad glance. "Surprising? We've been brough up to think the same of demons. It actually began from human nature, we are by nature selfish and lazy, and fear what we do not understand. Demons could not be explained, they had and still have abilities of which even they do not know the limits of. You don't know this, but only the demons are capable of becoming gods." Another increulous look. "Shinigami was at first a black phoenix demon, one who grew in power at such an astonishing rate that he was offered Death God position after becoming a ten-tail. Only the Kyuubies could become elemental gods, and only the Juubies could become Higher gods. Upon becoming gods, they became immortals. Back to the original subject, the humans grew afraid and attacked the demons, and so begun the eternal conflict. Prejudice reigned on both sides, though they were only divided by abilities. They both had emotions, morals...dreams. But fear is a dangerous thing, and it always causes battle in the end. Kyuubi attacked my village because he was powerful, and he wanted his clan to be able to live in a country without humans."

"His plan backfired when the village Kage called upon Shinigami to seal him inside me. Contracts bound by a soul sacrifice can never be broken, not even by time. Watching my life, Kyuubi saw the beliefs humans were raised with, and was confused. He always watched, and tried to understand. He eventually worked out that neither side were monsters...just severely misled. That's when he chose to save my life by creating a One-point demonic Merger, which made one tail of his power and my chakra fuse. I became a one-tailed demon with both Youki and human chakra, and used fox illusions to hide it. In later years, Kyuubi and I merged further, until a very short while ago we became one. Now Kyuubi solely exists as another personality, now I am simply bipolar. We can access each other's power, can take over the body whenever we feel like it. Since it was only recently, the smaller things haven't come into effect yet. The seal will sill be there, but the bars will be so wide as to be near useless to cage anything. The seal will simply be where Kyuubi's mind and memories begin."

"Demons, by default, hardly ever become Kyuubies. The ten-tails are so rare that there will probably never be another one again. Since the nine-tails are so rare, the place of a Fire God was recently untaken until around 9000 years ago, when Kyuubi was born. It was due to a one time mutation that Kyuubi was born with nine tails, so he never got a proper name. He is the youngest of all Gods. Upon becoming a god, you can never become a ten tail. If you get that far, you'll be constantly hovering at the point that divides the two ranks, and will never become more powerful. However, the more tails you have the slower you get new ones, so Kyuubi is still pretty much a Kyuubi, even after 9000 years. That should give you some idea of how long it takes to get more powerful as a nine-tail. All gods instinctively know the whereabouts, status, age and other things about all the other gods. According to Kyuubi, the wind god was killed in a failed sealing about eleven years ago. Since Kyuubies generally become the god of their main element, it's likely that I'll become the next KazeKami. And there goes my aspiration of getting stronger...but it would mean I have unbridled control over two elements. Does that answer your original question in an annoyingly complex way?"

Inoichi's brain was hurting, but he was still taking it in.

"Good. Now, memory #1. We're here."

Inoichi perked up, and entered after Naruto into a door.

The moon glared sliently at the world, silver permeating and merging with the odd red glow enveloping the landscape. Nearby, yells of pain and battlecries rang out full scale. A huge blood red fox demon towered above the trees, snarling and destroying. Blood flowed in puddles across the ground, the ground already too submerged to absorb any more. The earth was a sickening red swamp of death, dead bodies thrown aside and partly sinking in the metallic mess.

A particuarly loud yell rang out. "Get the Hokage! We can't let it get to the village!"

Inoichi, currently a semi-transparent shape, watched the scene in horror.

"yeah, this is my birthday. Part of this memory was donated by Kyuubi." Naruto informed sadly.

"Hokage? And what's with all the dead leaf nins?"

"My memories will be very confusing, but it'll all make sense in the end."

Inoichi chose that moment to shut up and watch.

There was a flash of yellow, white, and red, then there was Yondaime Hokage standing there with an oddly resigned expression. His image was slightly marred by the whimpering infant held comfortingly in his arms, blond-haired and very much defenceless.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Minato was sitting upon Gamabunta. No words needed to be said: the toad took one look at the huge demon before going on a one-way course into battle mode.

"I intend for this battle to be my last, old friend. Let's try to make it count." Mianto told the taod sadly. Gamabunta rolled a giant eye to glance at the baby.

"The seal." He said. A grim nod later, and the toad was frowning. "You're willing to give up your soul? ...Your son?"

"I wouldn't be much of a Hokage if I wasn't. As for Naruto... I intend for him to be viewed as a hero."

Gamabunta snorted. He was never the sort to hide what he thought. "There's about as much chance of that happening as there is of Katsuya growing fur!" Minato ignored him. His resolve was hardened.

"Goodbye, Naruto. I'm sorry." He whispered, too quietly for anyone except the toad and the child to hear. "Shiki Fuujin!"

Under the moon, Namikaze Minato's eyes clouded, and the fierce fire within was quietly smothered forever.

"Memory #1 complete. Next." Naruto said, looking forlorn. Inoichi was trying to make sense of it all.

The scenery changed. the crowd roared in the seats of a materialising stadium, and two people battled inside. Inoichi, being inside a memory, knew instantly that those two people were Sasuke and Gaara, and that this was a Chuunin Exam. Gaara had become enveloped in a strange, fat thing made from sand.

The image changed again. Now, white feathers were drifting throughout the stadium. Nearly everyone was falling asleep, aside from those who dispelled the illusion. Chaos broke out as Anbu attacked Anbu, revealing themselves as enemies under disguise. People fought, yelled, and a battle broke out. Huge snakes breached the walls, and two villages of shinobi attacked the supposed strongest of the five great nations.

The colours blurred, morphed, and became something else. It was a funeral, a whole village seeming to find nescessity in being there. A blonde teen stared at the ground with hard eyes, shrouded by strands of his hair. Silent tears ran down, over cheeks each scarred with three straight lines.

"We are gathered here to remember the Sandaime, our beloved Hokage that gave everything to the village, and yesterday gave even more. Like his deceased successor, he has given up his life in defense of Konoha." The words were drowned in Naruto's tears. he didn't hear anything else.

Why? The old man was the first one... the first to ever give a damn about me... Is everyone close to me doomed to die?

-

The memory ended with a shroud of depression. Naruto's eyes held a faraway look, reminiscent of the memory. "I still wonder that same thing." He said finally. "It would make sense...all who I've ever been close to eventually died early." Inoichi stared at him, lost for words. "The Oto/Suna attack started a lot of things. The next memory will be of a horrible event, the event that went into history books days after its occurance. The legendary Dousing of the Will of Fire."

All was peaceful, vilalgers mulling about the market as usual, chattering and alughing with their friends. It could not be expected that a ridiculously large amount of varying summon animals suddenly attacked the village, wreaking havoc and killing all in their path. They were followed by complete swarms of ninja, Konoha didn't stand a chance.

The image shifted, and fifteen ninja were fighting together. The memory supplied Inoichi with the names. Chouji, Shikamaru, Ino, Iruka, Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Sakura, Moegi, Udon, Konohamaru, Lee, Tenten, Neji, and Naruto. Plus the dog. They all looked roughly sixteen years old, and they were fighting against impossible odds. Naruto watched Sakura fall with an agonized roar, and red power exploded. His skin ripped off, and the blood merged with the Youki in a bubbling mess. a number of tails unseeable sprouted, always trashing inside and around eachother and preventing counting. Enemies fell, were torn apart, and were overlooked. Once Naruto emerged from his rage, only six other people remained, and Konoha was smouldering.

The scenery changed.

"It's hard." Naruto said finally, breaking the horrible silence that had settled on the seven warriors. They were on the cliff that held the severely scarred Hokage faces, and there was nothing left of Konoha but rubble, bodies, and blood. "We've lost our homes, our families... What is left for us, now that all we are has been stripped away and destroyed?" He finished wrapping a bandage firmly around Tenten's arm. "You could say we've lost everything. But we haven't. The Will of Fire still lives, and we threaten to kill it. Though it may sound corny, all we have now is each other. Suna went down, and we have no where left to hide. If we're gonna survive, we need to be able to trust and rely on each other without fail. And not many secrets can live on if that's gonna happen. We have to run, run and survive. There might not be anything to be said, or anywhere to go, but we still have our pride as Konoha shinobi." He pulled the knot tight, and raised sad but determined blue eyes to all of them, who were listening with a quiet attentiveness.

"And we fight till the end."

Kiba and Konohamaru shared a look, then all six of the survivors (minus Naruto) were glancing at each other in unspoken conversation.

"I don't think you'll ever know how Hokage you sound at the moment, Dobe." Kiba commented. He shared more looks with the others, questioning looks.

"Us seven are Konoha now...and Konoha needs a Hokage." Konohamaru gave a small, reminiscent grin. "I hereby nominate Naruto as Rokudaime. Vote?" Naruto's left eye was twitching violently as the vote quickly became unanimous.

He blinked. "I'm getting a large sense of irony here. I become Hokage when the village falls...but...thanks."

"The village ain't down yet, Dobe." Kiba flashed him a grin. "We ain't going down without a fight."

"What..." Inoichi's voice trailed off. He didn't understand this at all, but if Konoha had indeed been destroyed, then Naruto certainly made a very good Hokage.

"After that, we got so close that all of what we were was laid bare to us. We didn't have the smallest secret, we had near perfect teamwork. We survived for little over a year, I was slowly adapting to merge with more of Kyuubi. It was when I was experiencing the backlash of the final stage, and was unconcious, that I accidentally dropped the defenses and our enemies found us. I woke up to find those extentions of my soul dead, long dead. I beleive I drew on their remaining power then, as well as what remained of my pure human chakra and all of the rest. The entire world dissolved, and the resulting void landed me in the past. What you saw is the future, a future I plan to change."

Inoichi's eyes widened. That...explained it all. He looked at Naruto's sad smile.

"You know...that Ino girl..."

"Hm? The blonde kunoichi? She was rather impressive. Can't say i've seen many Kunoichi reach that level."

Naruto flahsed him a grin. "Glad you're impressed by her. 'Cause she's your daughter."

Inoichi spluttered.

Chapter 4: Follow Me Not

Minato was puzzled. Why the heck was it taking so long? Was something wrong? Inoichi's body suddenly returned to life, and he had a rather peeved expression. Naruto's body took a few seconds longer to reanimate with that same amused eye-smile.

"Completely trustworthy, Hokage-sama. Naruto-san would give his life for Konoha without question, and he may be on par with you in terms of power. I believe you could trust him with your life. Instating him as a Konoha shinobi, elite Jounin at the least, would result in huge benefit for the village." Minato felt pleased. He didn't know why, he just did. He suddenly noticed the amused glint in Inoichi's eye. "Dropping the formalities, I reccommend as a friend that you get to know the boy."

"Inoichi!" Naruto complained from the other side of the room. He got to his feet, and groaned slightly. He felt rather numb, an effect that had been constant since the black hole incident. He made amental note to ask Kyuubi how he'd actually survived that. He gave an exasperated sigh and turned to Minato. "If you, I quote, 'get to know the boy', then you may be able to dissolve mysteries that will inevitably zoom around me. One of those would be how I've had a Konoha hitai-ate for a good five or so years." Unsealing the worn, familiar headband, he swiftly tied it around his forehead in a swift gesture. Minato looked slightly miffed.

"All right then. Inoichi-san, can you please report to the council about Naruto-san?" He asked. The ninja nodded, then disappeared in a swirl of leaves. He turned to naruto. "As for you, I have a mission with my genin team. Perhaps you could come, and I can convince the little idiots to show you around Konoha?"

For some reason Mianto could not fathom, the masked clone of him began twitching violently. Genin team...? Holy sh- Is Obito still alive? By the Nine- Chibi Kakashi! I have to see that!

"Thankyou, Minato-san. I would like to meet your Genin team, but fortunately I already know the general layout of Konoha." Naruto replied, bowing very slightly.

Minato felt rather suspicious, despite Inoichi's report. But the strange pull he felt towards the child swiftly extinguished it.

"Come on then!" Mianto said cheerfully, he eyed a clock. "Two hours late, but Obito is always late...so...hn." With that, he promptly exited through the door in the wall that led outside. Namely, the window. There was no shinobi in existance that always used the door to report there. Naruto sighed, and jumped after him, Hiraishin'ing ahead, pausing occasionally so that Mianto would throw a three-ponged kunai to yellow-flash ahead. It was a race between two blurrs of yellow, though certainly not official. Minato stopped...in training ground 7. There, Obito was stumbling into the clearing and was being yelled at by Rin.

"You're la- You're both late!" Rin yelled accusingly, pointing at Minato and Obito.

"Exactly what I expect from the Dobe..." Kakashi smirked underneath his mask. Minato looked up to find Naruto in a tree, seemingly shocked to the core.

"Hey! Don't call me Dobe, Kakashi-teme! I'll kick your ass!" Obito yelled. Now, there was a clear expression of severe Déja Vu upon Naruto's face. He started as the boy fell out of the tree in shock.

"team 7-" He heard Naruto splutter at this. "Meet Naruto. He dropped in yesterday, and is now Konoha's newest shinobi." The team looked curiously at him. Kakashi simply glared.

"Does he have brain damage?" Asked Kakashi simply. Naruto stared at him oddly.

"You know, you have absolutely no idea how much you resemble my old team. Hopefully, you won't turn out like we did." He added that comment for effect. Minato shot a glance at him.

"Naruto is quite the mystery. After inspecting his mind, Inoichi-san advised me to make friends with him. Nearly everything about him is entirely unknown." Minato informed his team. Naruto cackled quietly beneath his mask.

"If we're like your old team, then who were you?" Obito asked eagerly, compeltely ignoring the suspicion that kakashi was suddenly radiating.

"Hm. I'm acting on first impressions here, but i'd assume I'd be you, Obito. Always the bumbling idiot, clumsy and disrespected. Though, if I'm correct, always hiding something." Obito looked startled. "Always arguing with the Rookie of the Year, who you'd prefer to name the Asshole of the Year, and utterly determined when it comes to the concept of protection. Unwavering in the defense of friends. I started off as the Dead Last, but now, I could give your sensei a good match. I was candidate for village leader where I came from."

Obito seemed awed. the others were listening attentively. There was something...different about this fellow. "If you could have become a Kage, why did you leave?"

The blue eyes clouded over in sadness. "Because the village was destroyed, down to the last civilian. I failed to protect my friends." Minato's sharp blue eyes darted to search Naruto's. there was no lie there. "On a happier note, maybe I can kick Minato-san off his proverbial throne some day." he shot an amused look at his father.

"Hokage, eh? You'll have to beat me first!" Obito announced cheerfully. Naruto stared at him for a long time, gaze searching and rather unnerving. Obito started shifting uncomfortably.

"You are more like me than I thought." Naruto sad finally, giving Obito a serious look.

"What the heck do you mean?! You're nothing like Obito no Baka! You're actually serious." Rin snapped. The response was an icy glare that froze her in place, those azure eyes suddenly cold.

"I suppose I should be disappointed, or approving." Naruto commented. "I should be approving of the fact that Obito masks himself so well, and disappointed that no one has bothered to notice he isn't really the bumbling idiot you think he is." Minato looked interested. As an elite, he had noticed Obito's mask he held over emotion and skill. He hid who he was underneath, but trusted Obito to drop it in his own time. It seemed like he was about to reveal it.

Only Naruto, Kakashi, and Minato noticed Obito pale a little. "What the heck do you mean, of course he's an idiot!" Rin yelled, out of her mental chokehold. Naruto sent her a faintly amused, but rather disappointed look. Also...was there rememberance lingering behind those eyes?

"Let me tell you something, Team 7. I have seen fear, I hae seen anger. I have seen hatred and prejudice in all of its forms. And many times I've had to put up different emotional masks to hide who I truly am. By the age of six, I had the mind and stealth of a war veteran. But I hid it, for unfortunate reasons I was forced to hide behind a mask to survive. They would have been angry if they knew I was powerful. They would attack. So I made myself seem an idiot, and a dropout in all forms. People underestimated me and I cast illusions under their noses to make them see me being easily beaten. Then I'd beat them in ways that seemed like accidents to anyone else."

"I have lived with that mask for over fourteen years. I know it well enough to tell that Obito wears it too." he fixed his intense gaze on the dumbfounded genin. "Maybe he isn't as powerful as I was at that age. But he is certainly not an idiot, certainly not weak, and takes note of everything you say. That mask makes for the perfect spy in society, they can hear things no one else does simply because people underestimate them. Maybe Obito does not wear the mask for survival, but taht does not shake reality." He closed his eyes briefly. Rin was eying Obito with curiousity and mild disbelief.

"How the crapping hell-"

"I'm remarkably good at reading people." Naruto replied simply. Meanwhile, Minato had been mentally going over some sentences in his head. 'They would have been angry if they knew I was powerful. They would attack.' Minato abandoned his thoughts for a brief moment as Naruto's eyes flickered over, holding his own gaze steadily. "Minato-san, I am aware that these are your students, but I have a lesson for them. A lesson that will prevent a great deal of regret if one of them were to be caught by misfortune. If they are anything like my old team...they'll need it. Permission?" Startled, Minato blinked.

"As long as it's non-violent. I've not been able to assess you yet." The look of seriousness did not waver in Naruto's eyes, he simply nodded in response before turning back to the now-tense genins.

"My team, I repeat, was like yours." Naruto began. "There was me, a girl named Hana, and the Rookie of the Year, Rai. Rai was famed and adored in the village, being the last of his prestigious clan. He had a large fan club, and Hana was a blatant member of it. Hana, most of the time, was incredibly violent in both speech and action. I acted the Dobe, passing the exams on a supposed whim and seeming to everyone as useless. Of course, since most of the village hated me, it had rubbed off on the children..." He trailed off briefly. Minato's eyes narrowed. "Rai had a severely pumped up version of the general Holier-Than-Thou attitude of the Uchiha clan here. Anyone guess where you three fit in?"

Kakashi scowled. Obito sniggered, and Rin held her fist up threateningly.

Naruto's eyes flashed. "Things did not go well for us. Hana remained agonisingly weak for years after graduation, she was a pathetic excuse for a kunoichi back then. More interested in boys and dating than the job she'd chosen. She was naive, selfish, and completely blind to how serious the job of a shinobi is. In this proffession, you have to always be prepared, for anything. I knew that, and had even had a little experience, but it was easier said than done to apply the rule. Even if we'd accepted what it meant to be a shinobi, it did'nt mean we were ready for what happened. Rai was an avenger, hell-bent on killing the one who'd destroyed his clan. He'd do anything for revenge...and in the end, he left our village and joined our most hated Nukenin for power." Rin had glared at the hana reprimand parts, she knew that the fangirl stuff defiantely applied to her. But now, listening, she couldn't help but be caught up in what he was saying.

"That could be you, Kakashi. You may not be an avenger, but people change. After enemy torture, perhaps the way you think could be altered. And for one of your attitude, from there it shouldn't be too hard for you to be out to avenge your father." Kakashi tensed considerably. "Rai never got his revenge. That Nukenin had used a permenant possession jutsu to take over his body, and thus, obtain his bloodline. I was forced to break the promise i'd made to Hana years before, I'd promised upon his departure that I'd bring Rai back at all costs. But he'd sold his soul. There was no saving him from that. We had to kill him, and Hana wasn't ready for the weight of it. The saddest thing was, that Nukenin's control slipped at the end, and Rai talked to us. He had true, honest regret for what he'd done. His last moments were filled with despair, he lived for just long enough to say that he'd died as my brother." Naruto closed his eyes in rememberance, and continued talking upon reopening them.

"Team 7 broke up for good. There was no chance we'd ever be complete again. Hana continued to hone her skill as a medic, and I got a new team. But they died too." He gave a sad smile beneath his mask. "In the end, death is a part of our lives. As shinobi, we are expected to be tools. We should carry out missions without and hesitation or emotion involved. We should let teammates go-the mission is more important. But we aren't weapons. We're humans posing as weapons, and no matter how hard we try to supress them, we'll always have emotions. Even demons feel what you feel, and if they can...even the coldest Anbu has a blemish upon his surface." Minato eyed him approvingly. That was exactly the view he'd tried to get across. He frowned. But still...that was one tough life he'd led.

Naruto sighed. "I'd rather stop thinking about such depressing things. I'd love to come with you on a mission, but sadly, I'm currently dealing with a chakra issue, and have recently discovered some abilities that need practicing. I am currently unsafe to travel with, since my chakra could form wind blades and spike at any moment...or something random like that. Needless to say, you'd either be a gory mess or a pile of ash by the end of it." He said cheerfully.

"I'm afraid that I have a Oinin (hunter nin) exam to evaluate tommorow, so I can't come on the mission. Kakashi's a jounin in general skill, so you shouldn't have trouble." Minato told them.

"And I'd like to give you three a warning." Naruto spoke up, catching their attention again. "Something bad is sure as hell coming, and its definately gonna happen in around a year or less. It's probably not anywhere near...but I'd like you to think over this: The ninja who breaks the rules is trash, but he who abandons his friends is worse than trash." A faraway look drifted into the blond's eyes. "take care of your friends. Keep them alive. Because without them, life is hardly worth living." His eyes hardened. "Minato-san, if you want to find me, I'll be in the Forest of Death. I believe there is sufficient isolation and space to cause ridiculous damage to the landscape there without accidentally decapitating some innocent bystander." Then, with a hesitant look on his face, he focused a strange silver and disappeared in a swirl of literal silver wind. (KazeKami ability #1 reveals itself! Wind chakra!)

Chapter 5: The Council of Elements

Once Team 7 was on their way, Minato went to look for Naruto. Inoichi was a very good friend, and wouldn't suggest something unless it had remote importance. Knowing that he'd be in the Forest of death, he decided to go there, using one of his numerous Hiraishin points in the village. What he found inside the forest, however, was a huge scale hurricane that didn't seem to be affecting the landscape, though was doing a nice job of blowi ng Minato around into trees. He spotted Anko, dangling grimly from a branch to which she was attatched by a snake. There was a small patch of vomit at the tree's base, so it was safe to assume the wind had whipped her around rather roughly.

"This doesn't leave the hurricane field!" She yelled at him from the tree, seemingly uncocnerned about where such a hurricane could come from. He nodded as best he could in the wind- Anko wasn't quite as scary as Kushina, but she still had that tendancy to castrate unsuspecting males and shove kunai in unpleasant places.

"Where'd the wind come from?" He called.

"All I saw was some titch running about! I thought you'd shrunk or something for a moment." She replied, sounding annoyed.

"GAH!" Yelled a voice on the wind. Literally, it was as if the wind was talking. "To any unfortunate lifeforms out there...I seem to have lost control of my extensive wind abilities. While normally I'd be trying to take my first mission here or something...it seems I'm being called to a meeting." It was most defiantely Naruto's voice, and the wind was most definately saying it. Suddenly, the wind disappeared, and when a feeling of weightlessness came upon Minato he realsied he'd been under a chakra field so dense and potent that it'd restrained him greatly, should a fight occur. Odd. And...who was Naruto having this so-called meeting with?

---------------

Naruto could feel himself becoming wind, in an oddly inexplainable way. Actually, he became a long mass of silver wind that odly resembled the typical chinese dragon shape. He suddenly felt a strange sense of freedom, and unexpectedly let out an extremely loud keening noise of exhiliration...which sounded like an eerie, long, and thin wind whistle with the terminal grunt of a growl added to it. All animals immediately stopped in their tracks, the Inuzuka dogs whimpering slightly and raising their heads to the sky.

Naruto laughed joyously, feeling the freedom of the wind. His body had become somewhat of a shaped tornado, though very finely detailed like a silver dragon. His eyes, which were simply glowing turquoise marks, ran over the spectacle that was clearly Konoha. All the animals gathered, foxes, dogs, rodents, especailly birds. Each wailed in a way that no one had ever heard before, and those that could understand (Such as the Inuzuka for their dogs) scould tell that it was a wail of such respect and submission that evidently no-one before had been deemed worthy enough to be respected as much. The animals wouldn't say who it was that they were worshipping, though the wails contained two words.

/"Windfire!"/ Said the animals. The word changed reguarly. /"Firestorm! Galeblaze! Vortexflame!"/ The animal-speakers were puzzled. All they could get fromt he words was that the animals were worshipping something that held semblance with wind and fire. that strange windsound came again, only this time it had an echoing effect that sounded like silver bells, and a quiet ripple of sound that held great resemblance to an ocarina's music. After a few minutes, the animals returned to normal. No one could get anything but the word /"Senkaze."/ from them.

The strange freedom that the wind gave him was extremely pleasing, Naruto felt a strange sense of knowing of many things. he focused on a particular Zephyr draft in the north (Zephyr- latin for north wind)

The Three are calling. Senkaze must answer. Senkaji must lead.

Naruto answered, and with a final wind-wail, the tornado of his body cancelled out. In a flash, he was in a strange world. It was dark, but dimly lit by small blue flames that had ignited in small silver plates upon his arrival. There were several peaceful ponds fuelled by a softly trickling stream, the water dark yet illuminated by a few dimly glowing ice blue koi fish that swam in a steady rhythm around each other. There were numerous types of stone embedded in the ground in strangely sharp lumps: obsidian, granite, sapphire, diamond...you name it. occasional sparks of blue lightning streamed up from the soft earthen soil, and in a void of nothing, four symbols glowed. They seemed to consist of lines, but naruto felt a strange sense of knowing where to go.

He blew over to a strange symbol which consisted of silver and gold lines that twined around each other, and coiled around it with his long draconic body, solidifying from the previous state of wind.

A shape of water flowed smoothly from the pond where the koi fish swam, movements graceful and perfect as water itself. It settled on a glowing blue myriad of lines, gaining its true corporeal form as well. The sparks of lightning gathered, then snaked out of the earth with a soft crackling sound, moving with an erratic pace to settle rougly on a whitish-blue symbol which was considerably more jagged than the others. Finally, another shape emerged from the stones, sparkling with the essence of all things stone, those colours dissipating as his form came to be.

Four beings, great and brilliant with captivating power. So different, so completely different, yet inexplainably united in a sense of things too perfect for the world.

This was the Council of Elements, where all things began.

In one sense, Naruto had not been here before. But with Kyuubi's presence, he had attended a total of four meetings as the fire god. Even if he wasn't Kyuubi, it felt almost instinctive to know what to do here, what was helpful and waht was essential. What was expected of him. "Maton: Senkaji bunshin no Jutsu." (Demonic release: Fire of War clone technique) The symbol beneath him became a mass of purely silver lines, and a symbol of golden ones snaked into existance beside him, where the extremely special clone appeared. Like the others, it had its own particular form. This was Kyuubi's personality, the side of him that was Fire God. What he currently represented was the Wind God.

Kyuubi was a bright red fox, as red as the Fire-Youki that pulsed off him in waves. Instead of nine tails, he had a single extremely long tail. While his body was generally two times the size of a male adult timber wolf, the tail was more than three times its length. His eyes were simply glowing red shapes in the midst of the surrounding black fur that ran from around his eyes to the insides of his long, thin ears. A mane of long red fur ran from between his ears to around and between them to settle around his shoulders.

Naruto was a long chinese style dragon. He was as tall as Kyuubi's current form, but his body was long and sinuous. there was 1.5- 2 meters of thin, draconic body between the front and hind legs, the latter of which had disappeared in a whirl of silver chakra. Naruto's thin body was a bit less the width of how long his head was, from back of the skull to the point of his long muzzle. His fur was a flowing silver, mid-length, not too short but not too long. His ears were like Kyuubi's demonic fox ears, and between said ears was a mane of long black feathers that flowed down around his shoulders. The tip of his tail ended in a ruff of similar sleek feathers. His eyes were not blue, didn't have irises nor pupils, they were just a glowing white. He was surrounded by a blazing silver chakra, Wind Chakra.

The Earth God was in the shape of a large tiger the size of Kyuubi, with longer than normal and more pointed than normal tiger ears on his head. He was entirely black furred, with golden stripes that twisted in irregular patterns. He had a mane of long, rich fur the colour of darkened brass flowing from between his ears, around them, then splaying around his shoulders. A rich copper-gold coloured chakra whipped the air around him.

The Lightning ruler was in the shape of some creature alike a weasel crossed with a cat crosed with a wolf. Basically, she had the long, flexible body of a weasel but the tail, ears, and legs of a cat. The actual head was wolf shaped. She was a honey golden colour, occasionally flecked with streaks of blonds (like Naruto's hair) and a platinum blonde colour (like Ino's hair). Her belly was a silvery white colour, and the cat ears seemed too large for the head. Her tail was 2 or 3 times longer than her body, which was in general the height and length of a full grown female wolf, and a faint crackling sound zipped with small white-yellow sparks from her fur. Her eyes were a sapphire blue.

Lastly, the water god looked like some divine, heavenly wolf. She looked like a glowing spirit-like figure, completely wolfish in shape with a slightly longer than normal tail. Parts of her fur seemed a sky blue, yet most of it was an ice blue/icy white that permeated light. The fur on her figure seemed to ripple and change position in a graceful, beautiful way quite often. The middle areas of her body sparkled like the surface of clear water seen from beneath, shone on by the sun. A frosty glow surrounded her, and a serene, kind look graced her features, her eyes glowing white pools of a warm icy white.

"Senkarashi. Storm of War." Said the weasel-cat-wolf, her voice strong, commanding, yet wild and laughing.

"Senkaji. Fire of War." Kyuubi reported smugly, tongues of fiery youki swriling around him.

"Senkasawa. Valley of War." Reported the earth-tiger.

"Senkakouzui. Flood of War." The wolf spoke softly, her voice gently with an undertone of some strange type of melancholy-sounding instrument between a flute and ocarina.

And Naruto knew. Like some powerful instinct, he knew exactly what to say. "Senkaze. Wind of War." All gods gave small nods, then in unison took up human forms. They all looked about the age of eighteen, and were basically human versions of themselves.

Senkarashi had a longer than normal waist, and those same huge golden, catty ears poking out of her shining gold hair, which ran perfectly straight and smooth to slightly beneath her shoulders. Her skin had a slight golden tan. Her feet were replaced by wolfish paws adjusted for biped transportation, and the legs attatched were strangely long for the slim figure supported there. Her chest was slightly smaller than the norm, and she wore a long flowing cloak (Akatsuki style with a much lower collar) which matched her hair. She wore a bronze coloured shirt underneath it,a nd black shorts that nearly reached her knees. The sapphire blue eyes continued to shimmer, but they were no longer glowing, yet still had no pupils. Her long golden tail swayed in various directions with the occasional sharp flick. Her hands were as normal for a human, except for the fact that claws extended and retracted form her fingertips, and sleek golden fur ran over her hands, and if seen from a distance would look like fingerless gloves. Her cloak was covered with a bronze-gold representation of herself producing a sparking ball of energy in her paws, sitting up in the position that a dog would beg in, minus the arms, which were reserved for the ball of energy...which looked like the yingyang symbol. The image's tail was extremely long, and coiled around the cloak.

Kyuubi had crimson red hair that was in a similar style to Minato's, with long demonic fox ears poking from his spiky locks. His bright red eyes were outlines by black (Like Gaara's, but not insomnia) and a thin line of black ran from the outer edges of the eyes and ran up to their respective sides of the head, turning a wider amount of the hair in their path black, reaching so that it was almost impossible to tell where the insides of his ears began. A thin black line rimmed his mouth, which was open in a mock-sadistic grin, fangs bared slightly. He had a fair amount of muscle, though certainly didn't look like a bodybuilder. He had his own blood red version of the fur-fingerless-gloves on his hands, and considerably more talon like claws that could not be withdrawn, only dulled and reduced. His feet were also the biped version of paws, each of the general four toes for each foot, plus the dewclaw, with small talons, short and blunt s as to not get in the way of walking. Under the dark blood red cloak in the same style as Senkarashi's, Kyuubi wore black-red pants that ended halfway down his shins, quite loose but reasonably tight. He wore no shirt. His slitted pupils were faintly visible. On the front of his cloak, a golden Kyuubi stood over a yingyang symbol, nine tails weaving around the back. It seemed to glow with a golden, molten light.

Naruto did not look like how he normally did as a human. He seemed incapable of using fox illusions to cover up his demonic features. He had long silver hair, around the length of Hyuuga Hiashi's. Only it was rather spliky, and generally in the style of Minato's until the back bit decended. And the curtain bangs were twice as long. Slightly shorter versions of the silver demon-fox ears twitched, the tips a fair distance from the hair. Like kyuubi, he had black insides of his ears, but the blackness only reached as far as the base of the ears and onto some steel grey feathers that were short and soft around the ears. Completely silver feathers occasionally popped out from the strands of silver hair, too alike the hair itself to be seen unless from close up. His eyes seemed to imitate liquid silver, always whirling to different molten shades. He wore a golden shirt with a replication of the silver mark he was standing on, the Wind insignia. He wore black pants around the same length as Kyuubi's, and both had the same looseness that failed to be baggy. His robe was silver, long and flowing. The image of a black version of himself with a considerably large increase of feathers, as well as two sleek featherd wings that stretched across the page, twined round and round the cloak like a large ribbon. There seemed to be glints of multiple colours reflecting in non-logical ways in the light. But it was mainly a black dragon, standing protectively over the yingyang symbol.

Senkasawa was considerably more muscled than the rest, with a bronze tan that remained unchanging across his skin. His hair seemed to be a cross between Sasuke and Minato's hairstyles, with the appropriate colours. His hair was the same colour as his mane, a dark bronze-brass colour. He wore a black cloak with a large crystalline looking tiger on it. It seemed to be the materail version of various jewel parts soved together in such a way that it just seemed like a multicolour jumble that seemed surprisingly unworthy of great despair. The on it were leaf green, a little different from the emerald eyes that Senkasawa actually had. The tiger on the cloak had managed to keep the golden stripes and a considerable amount of blackness. Underneath his clothing was simply black, although they were considerably more baggy, and the pants had become trousers.

Senkakouzui had her traditional icy-white-silver hair that permeated an ethereal glow, perfectly smooth but slightly unruly in the form of a few messy strands that stuck up. Her hair came halfway down her back, and she had a smooth, non-spiky/wavy version of shoulder bangs, a seperate but much smaller section of hair running down the edges of each cheek and softly settling on her shoulders. Her eyes were that same ice-white-silver that whirled in a gently glowing pool, round and round. Catlike ears swivelled on the top of her head, the hair splitting briefly to make room for them. She wore a soft iceue, sleeveless shirt which was quite loose. She wore looser trousers a shade lighter than sapphire-blue, her feet the same adjusted paws that they all had. She also had the 'sleeveless gloves' of fur, plus claws that flexed once out then back in again. her cloak seemed like the material embodiment of opals, flecks of turqoise, pink and other colour dancing across the azure surface at regular intervals in the light. The creature upon her cloak was of herself in God form, slightly translucent as always, and actually glowing very softly. It was also capable of having the right colours due to the cloak that for once, was not the shade of her fur. her wolf tail swished gracefully in the air, now more than two times her height from head to footpaw.

Senkakouzui began giving off a faint frosty glow. "We five, the Council of Elements, are gathered here today in our world to welcome the new KazeKami to our ranks. The powers vested within the world, and thus, ourselves, have been passed down to us by the Great Rulers. Shinigami-sama, Death. Jinsei-sama, Life. Innen-sama, Fate. Shirei-sama, The Leader. The Order of Four, plus the Council of Elements, and there is the Union of Eight. We have the responsibility of keeping things how they must be. The electric currents healthy, the winds clean, the water pure, the ground fertile, and the flame that devours and prevents perfection. With perfection, there is nothing for us and no one. perfection must not be reached. Failure is not tolerated. Our Earth speaks to us, and we must answer. Call on what lies within to control, and call upon connection to assemble the Council of Elements. Everything is clear?" Her voice held an amused, yet serious tone. It still had that odd echo of a strangely musical sound. Naruto had been listening carefully, analysing meanings and taking them in. He nodded, a tad gravely.

Then; all tension, grim silence, and alert stiffness promptly vanished with an astonishing speed. The other gods relaxed, and suddenly seemed casual and at ease. Even Kyuubi, forever hungry for fiery consumption, seemed more at ease than Naruto had ever seen him.

"Good!" Senkakozui said brightly. "Now that we can finally drop the boring formalities, we'll tell you the other stuff with less strictness. Only two of us here have been human, and that is you, Senkaze, and Senkarashi-nee-chan. Senkarashi was Gobi's host. We could never figure out what that demon was, but she was defiantely something between a wolf and a weasel. Gobi got sealed into a human with faint traces of demon cat blood, and when they merged, Senkarashi-nee-chan became some sort of mix thing-"

"Hybrid!" Senkarashi protested. "I resent being called a 'sort of mix thing'!"

Seemingly ignoring her, Senkakozui went on. "And that's her story. Her human name was Kara, like your human name is Naruto. Among humans, yeah, fine. use those names. But now that you're a demon and a god, you need to set a standard for us demons, and you need to get yourself a demon name." She gestured to Senkarashi. "For instance, we ended up naming 'Karashi as Raira. I'm Kasui, Senkasawa is Nadare,...and Kyuubi's always been Kyuubi. That's demonic enough for us. And now, by the power vested in me as the most bossy and assertive Elemental, I command the other Elementals to think up a single name for Senkaze's entity, not Kyuubi's." Kasui announced.

Naruto watched, bewildered, as all the elementals closed their eyes and hummed softly. He noticed the strange telepathic connection they had with each other a second too late to tune into it.

"Kamera." Nadare announced. (Kamera- my spelling of Chimera, pronounced Kha-meer-ah.)

"Kamera." Kyuubi agreed.

"Not that I don't like it...but why?" Naruto (Kamera?)

"A kamera is an extinct type of demon that always had at least two personalities. those two personalities were quite different, and were both different types of demon. That meant they'd have more elements. You're practically a kamera reborn. Raira would have been a kamera too, other than for the fact both she and Gobi have the same element and near identical personalities. When people become demons like you and Raira did, any demonic blood, no matter how thin, will amplify greatly. Since demons take human form, there are hardly any people without a sliver of demon blood. Only, unless you're a Jinchuuriki or are Youki Implanted by a Jinchuuriki, then it can never awaken. You happen to be a Black Phoenix descendent, and so you became both a Black Phoenix and a Demon Fox. When Kyuubi is in control, you go all fox. When you shove all of Kyuubi's persona into the seal room, you become fully black phoenix. Jinchuuriki-es take the balance their whole life without knowing it, if they have demon blood." Kasui explained.

"I took that in, but only just." Naruto reported.

"So, no objections? Your demonic/god name is now Senkaze Kamera." Noticing his odd look, she added to her conclusion. "Things like KazeKami and MizuKami are our titles. Things like Senkaze and Senkaji are second names, which represent a less formal title. then goes your demonic name as the first name."

"Alright then." The newly named Naruto/Kamera said. He grinned. "Now, I understand the previous Senkaze has been gone for a while. How do I start on repairing the winds?"

#

VOTE!!!!!

Should Naruto be typed as Naruto or Kamera?

In the future, these are the pairings I'm considering.

Naru/Anko (Not too sure about this one, but defiantely an option)

Naru/Hana (Kiba's older sister, a vet. One of my two top faves on this list)

Naru/Kasui (The water goddess, Fave number 2)

Naru/OC (other demon I'm rather shifty about this one)

Chapter 6: Know You

It was late on the next day when Naruto returned to Konoha. He might have risked it, being away from the village while so newly inducted. He expected for some people (Translation, Team 7) to show up and demand where the hell he'd been. Instead, Naruto noticed an occasional cloak of depression over a few people. From here, the way to Minato's office would pretty much be faster through the Uchiha district. And half the clan was out there looking rather pissed and depressed at something. Deciding that the current Hokage would be the best way to recieve an update of events. However, upon entering through the Door-In-The-Wall-That-Leads-To-Air (Otherwise known as DITW or the window) he found Rin and Minato in stricken silence, definite depression and despair hanging over them like a black cloud.

"What the hell happened?" Naruto finally managed to choke out. Why was only Rin there? Wasn't it usually the whole team? Suddenly, it dawned on him.

Fuck no.

"Fuck no." Naruto spat, voicing his thoughts in a firm tone. "Please tell me the Shadow-of-Me did not snuff it."

Evidently, as Rin burst into tears, there would be no truth behind it. Minato, with dull eyes, quietly observed the teenager's reaction with mild interest. The boy appeared to be hyperventilating, and going into some sort of extremely frustrated state. This certainly didn't make much sense. He'd only met Obito once.

"Dammit!" Naruto cursed. "Why did it have to be so soon? I thought there was so much more time- damn Sensei! He never told me the date!"

"Hm?" Minato questioned. Naruto jolted, as if he'd only just noticed his prescence.

"My sensei foretold that Obito would die. He also knew how close some people would be to him, and how upset they'd be if he died. But he never told me the date that the kid would die on! It was supposed to be my duty to save him...and i've failed again." Minato looked startled, and Rin looked up, sniffling tearfully. A numb feeling was descending upon the jinchuuriki like thick mist, dimming everything around him. He was a failure...and it was time to give up. Naruto bit back a yelp of pain as a scar on his left hand burned the colour of youki, then dimmed, leaving a sore feeling behind. It was a scar on the palm of Naruto's hand, in kanji that read: 'Uchiha'. In much smaller kanji in a ring around the first symbol, there were the words Live on, My brother, and keep Konoha''s fire kindled to the end. It was a rough message,certainly not neat, scratched into Naruto's palm when Sasuke had died. It was a senbon that'd done it, infused with the black chakra of the curse seal, the chakra that Kyuubi was capable of withdrawing his healing powers from. It was a final message telling him to never give up, and fight until the end. Naruto took a deep breath, and calmed himself. And as best I can, I will honour those wishes until the end. Thanks Kyuubi. The demon grunted in satisfaction.

"Kakashi must be crapped." Naruto said finally, looking up. "I guess he hadn't realised that Obito had become his best friend." He took a deep breath. "Minato-san, you've had to deal with death before. I'll leave it to you to help Rin through this, as for me, I'll go find Kakashi."

"How could you help Kakashi?" Rin sniffled.

Naruto gave her a sad smile. "I've lost everything, Rin. As a man with nothing but the dying words of my friends to keep me alive and sane, I think I can offer empathy to your teammate." Naruto closed his eyes and roused the wind. Breezes raced through every home in Konoha, searching, whispering. And there was Kakashi, to the west. Naruto's clothes caught fire, and the next second a blaze swirled round him for a brief moment, and then was gone. Nothing was left there except faint white smoke.

Kakashi's hand jerked for his weapon holster at the feel of another chakra presence, then relaxed when it was recognised.

"Naruto." He acknowledged. "What do you want?" Naruto didn't answer. He just observed the teen sitting, staring out into the sunset. Naruto sat beside him, and conjured a large black book. He opened it to a page where a photo showed seven people sat around a fire, enclosed by a shroud of willows by a river. Fireflies darted around in the air, and the people in the photo were entirely hidded by cloaks and hoods, aside from the small smiles on each face. He named the people, one by one. Kakashi listened quite attentively, seemingly desperate for some sort of distraction.

"Myself, Tenten, Shino, Kiba, Moegi, Udon, and Konohamaru. The last named after Konoha. We were the sole survivors of our village after it was destroyed, I was elected as their leader. We spent a year on the run, and got to know eachother so well that we seemed to share the same soul. We could predict the thoughts of eachother, and all secrets lay bare among us. It hurt so much to lose them, for them to die while I live. I can't help but think that they deserved life more than me, what right does an abomination like me have to survive?" Naruto stared at the picture. A tear fell from one eye, crystalline in the fiery light. "It was only two days ago that I lost everything. The pain is still fresh, and the only reason I carry on is because of broken words. My group would want me to live - no matter how painful it is or how undeserving I am of it. Just like Obito hid everything until the end. He gave you that Sharingan so you could protect yourself. He gave you a future."

"What if I don't want a future?" Kakashi whispered. Naruto sighed heavily.

"We must take it anyway, because the wishes of our friends are more important than our own. Especially dying wishes." Kakashi didn't say anything, but Naruto thought he could see a little less hopelessness there now.

"...Have you got any more pictures?" Kakashi finally said. Naruto smiled, and dragged the book over. On the photo-tour, Naruto carefully avoided pictures of people that already existed. Just in case. Especially the Team 7 picture. It would be hard to explain Kakashi's older self.

In the end, Kakashi had been helped.

MInato's clone dispersed, and Minato himself was impressed by the level of empathy Naruto radiated, if not voiced. Finding more out about the young teen would be interesting.

A few days later, most of the people upset by Obito's death were no longer in depression. They were ninjas, after all. All of their psychological damage tended to be long term. Too many deaths in the long run would build up and drive you insane. Also, a few days later, Kushina had heard the news about Naruto, and after reading through his Bingo book page (the bingo book which had mysteriously disappeared from Naruto's possession) had frowned and questioned his supposed surname. Naturally, this required sending Minato to fetch him for tea. Civil conversation was a good way for an Uzumaki to decide if another person was an Uzumaki.

Naruto accepted. "It'll be interesting to meet the supposed rebel Uzumaki." He mused aloud. Seeing Minato's expression, he added to his statement. "Kushina-san is well known as a rebel in the Whirlpool country, the Uzumaki family tend to be quite loyal. I hear that Kushina-san wanted a change of scenery. Me too, seeings as I spent my life in a foresty place. Nice peaceful first twelve years, learning to be a ninja." Minato had stared for a while, before shrugging and promptly jumping away across buildings. Naruto followed. He eventually ended up going through a window in an apartment that presumably belonged to Kushina. He perked up the minute he smelt tea.

"You're Naruto?" Said a voice. "Uzumaki Naruto?" Naruto jumped five feet into the air and attatched himself to the ceiling.

"Fucking hell!" Naruto exclaimed. "Give me more warning next time! Tea distracts me." He was looking down at a woman with fiery red hair and emerald green eyes. That was the typical tendancy of the Uzumaki clan. She beamed.

"Did you sea that?!" She exclaimed, turning to Minato. "That was a prime Uzumaki response to being made jump around tea!" Minato looked bemused. Naruto wore a completely identical look from where he hung. She turned to Naruto again. "Hi! I'm Uzumaki Kushina! Nice to meet you do you want tea?!" She jabbered. Naruto analysed her way of speech and sniffed. Yep, she'd definately had tea. With lots of sugar. Sugared tea always made him hyper. Then he realised what she'd asked.

"Crapping hell yes!" Naruto exclaimed, falling off the ceiling in his excitement and not relenting his expression upon colliding painfully with the floor.

Kushina grinned. She looked overjoyed. Minato, totally bemused, looked at Naruto. He was grinning foxily. Completely identical to Kushina's expression. "Tea!" Kushina crowed, zipping off into the kitchen at what seemed like light speed. Naruto had planted himself on the roof again, sitting upon it cross-leggedly. About thirty seconds later, Kushina was rushing in with two cups of tea that were for some reason not spilling. Both had three sugars and no milk. Naruto gladly accepted the cup, and somehow drank his tea upside-down without spilling it at all. Kushina was doing exactly the same, and Minato was ready to pass out from confusion. They somehow finished their tea in the time it took to prepare it, all the while drinking quite daintily. Upon finishing, the Uzumaki pair dropped onto seats by a coffee table.

"So far, you are displaying tendancies only seen in our family. But only a few more things will determine if you really are an Uzumaki." Kushina reported.

"And what are those?" Minato asked, interrupting Naruto as he started to reply.

"Whether or not he can do pranks well, and the subject of DMTS." Kushina replied distractedly.

"DMTS?" Minato asked, confused.

"You'll find out in the morning." Naruto told him, just as distracted-sounding. Minato looked at them. They were both staring fixedly at each other, their eyes flashing between expressions too fast to catch. But one thing was continual. The all-feared glint of mischeviousness. AKA, the calm before the prank.

Oh hell no.

-----------------

As it seemed, hell yes. Several strange events had occured in Konoha that day.

Fox cubs had infested the streets, trashing the bins in search for food they didn't appear to need. All well-known perverts were traumatised for unknown reasons. The Inuzuka's dogs had suddenly turned on their partners and licked the living shit out of them. Large mobs of squirrels attacked anyone that went outside Konoha, or anywhere near an actual squirrel. Gai was on fire, and neither his spandex nor his person were burning. He claimed that the flames of youth had become visible to everyone. It was in fact a genjutsu to show other people what Gai saw in himself. Also, Jiraiya had turned fireman yellow and appeared to have no way to reverse it. All his 'inspiration' saw him easily. Also, the latest academy students of 12 years of age ahd been mentally scarred as their 75 year old Ninja History teacher began stripping in class. Quotes from the scene: "Arghh! My virgin eyes" and "I think I need some mind-soap."

All in all, the two Uzumakis had paired up for pranks.

Kushina beamed. "That rocked, Fishcake!" Instead of being annoyed about the nickname, Naruto beamed back.

"Sure did, 'Shina!"

Minato? He was feeling jealous. A sudden, unfamiliar voice made him jump. "Don't worry yourself! The Uzumaki's don't inbreed. And it would be morally wrong for Naruto-sama to be involved with Kushina-san." It was a fox cub. With a split tailtip. It was pure white with leaf green eyes. Minato stared. The fox looked exasperated. "Naruto-sama summoned me. My name is Lija." Lija told him, before sniffing a bug curiously, and disappearing in a puff of smoke. She'd decided to return to...wherever summons came from.

"Just one test left, then?" Minato asked. Kushina's eyes snapped to him, sparkling.

"Yep! And if he gets the next one right, there's no doubt at all that he's an Uzumaki." Kushina announced.

"And what are the main components of this test? I know the DMTS part." Naruto asked, seeming to enjoy swinging from the ceilling upside-down on something too thick to be called a chakra string. More like a chakra rope.

"You'll be staying here tonight. Since there's only beds for Minato and I, you'll understand part of this." Kushina told him. Naruto nodded, comprehension sliding over his face.

"Since you've never really told me anything about your family, what is Naruto understanding?" Minato questioned irritably. This was his partner! Admittedly secret...but still. He wasn't getting enough of the attention men required to not get irritable.

"The Uzumaki had several jutsus that required spinning at high speed. So we sort of lost our ability to become dizzy. If Naruto can sleep upside down all night without being unhealthily unconcious, more probability that he is Live Uzumaki # 2." Kushina explained.

Naruto smelt something. Something addictive. "You have ramen?" He asked tentatively.

Kushina snorted. "Of course I do. Which sane person doesn't?"

Minato blinked. Judging by the exression of joy dawning on his lookalike's face, and by the fact that he was hard pressed to see Kushina eat anything except ramen, liking it might be a family thing. What he didn't know was that it was an inheirited taste.

And the gorging began.

When Minato woke up, Kushina was sitting up, fully clothed, on the edge of the double bed. She looked tense, as if waiting for something.

"What's wrong?" He asked groggily. Kushina looked round, a startled look on her face.

"Shut up!" She hissed, quietly. "Naruto is waking up. he apaprently ddn't die in the night."

Kushina always got up very early. She'd never told Minato why.

"What's the big fuss?" Minato asked. Kushina frowned.

"I hid his tea." She stated. She seemed to almost flinch at that.

"Again: what's the big deal?" Kushina gave him a look.

"There's a reason I get up early. DMTS stands for Demonic Morning Tea Syndrome. No one knows how it came about, but the Uzumaki family needs tea in the morning. Unless they get tea, they'll be pissed as hell and extremely dangerous. Give 'em tea and they'll be fine. If you hide their tea...and they know you did it... let's just say nothing rivals the power of Uzumaki Tea Revenge." It was official. Kushina was nuts.

Then, a voice bellowed. "TEA!!!" Apparently not. The bellow was followed by a loud bang. Naruto suddenly burst in. His eyes were still blue, but glowing.

"Your tea is under the chairs in the next room." Kushina tol him. Naruto disappeared in a yellow flash. A second later, and loud slurping noises could be heard. Kushina relaxed. "Danger passed. He's had his tea."

"How is it possible to prepare tea so quickly?" Minato asked in disbelief. Kushina shrugged.

"Uzumaki mystery."

"No one has ever been able to fully interpret the effects of DMTS. But they got something, at least." Naruto's voice called, gradually louder as the boy appeared.

"Like what?" Minato asked wearily. He was confused.

"After tests, it was discovered that the Uzumaki family has another survival drive." Minato didn't understand. his face showed it. "Like when you need food, you feel hungry. When an Uzumaki needs tea, they get desperate enough to get supremely angry and destroy things. You know the old saying that you should never attack Whirlpool village in the morning?"

Minato nodded.

"Well, its because Whirlpool country had a very good defence. Ninja would detect the upcoming attack, and notify the village. Stealth experts would then steal all the Uzumaki's tea and blame it on the attackers. In the state of DMTS, all an Uzumaki can think about is finding out where his or her tea is, and removing anything in the way of getting it by any means nescessary. Hell hath no fury as the Uzumaki without their tea. That's a passed saying in Whirlpool. It passed when The Uzumakis got killed."

"And no one knows why DMTS happens to only us." Kushina sighed.

"Apart from me." Naruto added. The two others stared at him. Kushina glared at him. She was obviously expecting him to spill. "Okay, I'll tell." He chuckled nervously. "Not many people know much about demons. So they don't know that all demons can take human form, and use demonic illusions to hide their animal features."

"Wait, how is this relevant?" Kushina interrupted.

"I'm getting to that." naruto glared. "The demons, as a last ditch effort to stay alive, mingled with humans. When that started, there were as many demons as there were humans. They bred with the humans, and took security measures to fake their deaths and escape to somewhere else while young, as demons are immortal. once they are finished maturing, they stop aging. The same can't be same for half breeds. It just granted them longer lives. Today, about four percent of humans worldwide are without demonic blood in their veins, no matter how faint. Sometimes the bloodstrength of the demon would suddenly speed up in one person, and that could grant them oddly coloured eyes or something like that. I believe Yuuhi Kurenai is one such example. Some people have the ability to sense the demonicy in others. But back to the original topic, the first Uzumaki took a kind of fox demon named a Bloodfox as their partner. Genders unknown. The Bloodfoxes were named so because of their dark crimson fur. Anlike other animals, they fed purely on heated liquid. It could be blood, tea, coffee, even boiling water. Different tribes of Bloodfoxes drank different things, and the taste ran in their bloodline with extreme prominence. As it was, the Bloodfox with the Uzumaki was from a tea drinking tribe. When the Uzumaki's demonic blood thinned and became more human, they ate food as well, but never quite lost the need for tea. Somewhere along the line DMTS mutated to have different signs that tea was needed. And there we are."

They stared. Naruto glared. "What?" He snapped. "All facts, I assure you."

"How in hell can you know so much about demons?" Kushina demanded. Minato eyes Naruto seriously.

"You spoke of people who can sence demonicy in people. Perhaps you are one of them? But would that allow you to obtain such extensive knowledge of demons?" He stated bluntly. Naruto sweatdropped. Damn. He really is a genius.

"Unlike you."

"Shut up, Kyuubi."

Naruto sighed. "Dammit. To hell with my inability to predict consequences." He looked the two adults in the eye, serious. "You'd find out sometime." He told them. "So why not now, on amiable terms?"

And before four shocked eyes, Naruto's human ears were replaced by large golden foxy ones on the top of his head. A blond tail roughly three and a half times the length of his body sprouted. White claws were in the place of his nails, and his pupils thinned into slits.

"If you find a skilled demon, he can awaken the demonic blood in you. Such happened to me."

Sorry for the late update!

The pairing will be Naru/Anko.

Naruto will be called Kamera by demons to irritate him. Because its supposed to be his demonic god name.

For those who wanted other pairings, I apologise. For Kasui lovers, she will have a reasonably large part in the story, minus superpowers.

**This story is a resubmission of Darktayle's story. Any replicas found elsewhere have been stolen. This has been posted with full approval from Darktayle, who wished to clear her profile while still allowing readers access to her previous works. This story will not be updated--again, if it is found elsewhere and has been updated, then it is a stolen idea and a stolen story.**

**Thank you.**


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